spring rolls

04/03/10 Siem Reap

I go to my favorite stall in the market. It is in the centre where the food stalls are - surrounded by stalls with fruits and vegetables on display. I pass the raw fish stalls and step carefully on the dirty wet floor underneath me. I discovered this stall a couple of days ago. A woman sitting behind a counter, making fresh spring rolls. I was able to express to her that I wanted no meat in mine, just vegetables. The meat is white and rubbery. It looks like squid or octopus but is more likely pork. I am now able to signal how many I want and she will make them for me as I like. They are filled with lettuce, bean sprouts, noodles, mint. She will give me a little bowl of vinaigrette topped with shredded peanuts.

But she is not here today. There is somone else at her spot. The counter holds fried greens and meat. No spring rolls. The girl smiles hopefully at me but I move on.

I sit in one of the open restaurants on the edge of the market. Here the meals are $1.50 a plate. Within moments, the street urchins arrive: Buy postcards. Where are you from? Canada. Capital of Canada is Ottawa.They have memorized the capitals for the most common tourist countries and are able to reel off the names with great pride. A few days ago I bought a meal of fried rice with beef for three of them to share. The waitress brought 3 plates. They sat down around me and finished it off within moments. They thanked me politely. Today the same ones are here. One recognizes me but the others do not. The plate of fresh spring rolls at $1.50 is triple the price of my little market kiosk. I am paying for sitting at a table.